Head, "with the exception of a solitary meteor here and there. Yet in
the trivial matter of mere earthly enrichment--"

"Truly," agreed the other. "There is, then, a whisper in the province
that the floor of the Imperial treasury is almost visible."

"The rumour, as usual, exaggerates the facts grossly," replied the
Greatest. "The floor of the Imperial treasury is quite visible."

"Yet on the first day of the next moon the not inconsiderable revenue
contributed by those who present themselves for the examination will
flow in."

"And by an effete and unworthy custom almost immediately flow out
again to reward the efforts of the successful," replied the Wearer of
the Yellow in an accent of refined bitterness. "On other occasions it
is possible to assist the overworked treasurer with a large and
glutinous hand, but from time immemorial the claims of the competitors
have been inviolable."

"Yet if by a heaven-sent chance none, or very few, reached the
necessary standard of excellence--?"

"Such a chance, whether proceeding from the Upper Air or the Other
Parts would be equally welcome to a very hard-lined Ruler," replied
the one who thus described himself.

"Then listen, O K'ong-hi, of the imperishable dynasty of Chung," said
the stranger. "Thus was it laid upon me in the form of a spontaneous
dream. For seven centuries the Book of the Observances has been the
unvarying Classic of the examinations because during that period it
has never been surpassed. Yet as the Empire has admittedly existed
from all time, and as it would be impious not to agree that the
immortal System is equally antique, it is reasonable to suppose that
the Book of the Observances displaced an earlier and inferior work,
and is destined in the cycle of time to be itself laid aside for a
still greater."

"The inference is self-evident," acknowledged the Emperor uneasily,
"but the logical development is one which this diffident Monarch
hesitates to commit to spoken words."

"It is not a matter for words but for a stroke of the Vermilion
Pencil," replied the other in a tone of inspired authority. "Across
the faint and puny effusions of the past this person sees written in
very large and obliterating strokes the words 'Concerning Spring.'
Where else can be found so novel a conception combined with so unique
a way of carrying it out? What other poem contains so many thoughts
that one instinctively remembers as having heard before, so many
involved